Out of many days, one
by NCR Ranger
Summary: It only comes by once a year, after all. Might as well get it right


_UNSC ' Infinity '_

Spartan Town

Blue Team's quarters

Shipboard clock: 0640 hours

* * *

That box _hadn't_ been there last night. And now, inexplicably, it was, _now._

Kelly had noticed that box within the first 10 minutes of waking up this morning- or, what counted as morning, when you were on a ship somewhere in deep space that had to run on its own clock. She did at least have the benefit of having mastered the skill of becoming fully alert immediately after awakening, which certainly proved useful now; she didn't like letting any change of her surroundings go unoticed.

Even if it was something as innocuous as a _gift-wrapped box._

It was stashed neatly beneath her bunk, directly adjacent to the locked and secured gun case that contained Oathsworn. That said box was wrapped in brightly colored paper, with a red bow tied somewhat sloppily ( but still functionally ) on top.

The unkown box was middle of the road, size wise. About as big as a shoebox, and roughly the same shape as one too. It was right there, standing out pretty clearly against the ash-colored deck plates, as if it'd always been there. Except it hadn't.

Kelly knew that for certain, becasue she'd carefully and diligently placed the long lived and well worn gun case containing Oathsworn in its own place beneath the bunk shortly before turning in last night. If this mystery box had been there at all then, she'd _definitely_ have noticed it.

_What's_ this _? And how did anyone find _wrapping paper _on Infinity ? Its hard enough getting coffee that _doesn't_ taste like cardboard !_

Frowning with puzzlement, Kelly knelt, and stared at the box for a few more seconds, scrutinizing it. On some level, she was certainly suspicous: finding _any_ kind of box beneath your bed was cause to be on guard, and even if it was all prettily done up with wrapping paper and a bow, that didn't mean you should automatically trust it.

_Sure, it _looks_ like a present. Suppose all that matters here is: _Who_ put this here ? How'd they get it here without getting detected ?!_

She reached out, and grabbed it. Pulling it out from its hiding place, Kelly stood, and hefted the box up and down a few times.

It was very light, and nothing rattled around. Kelly turned the box over, looking for some kind of label or sticker, or some kind of note that might've been taped to it. Whoever'd left this here must've left one-

_Aha. _There's_ something_

Taped to one side of the box was a strip of paper, with a few lines of text written on it:

_To Miss 087:_

_ Hope you'll stick by me at least a few more years. There's nobody else who could be my Blue Two  
_

_Head to the mess hall. We put together a party for you. No Non-Spartans present; This is all Blue Team_

_Oly Oly Oxen Free, Kelly. Love you_

_From: 117_

And, exactly like that, any mystery and/or uncertainty surrounding the box dried up. There was only _one_ person in the entire known galaxy who would ever think to say anything like this.

Suddenly, it all made sense. The corner of Kelly's mouth tugged up, forming a actual smile.

_How could I have forgotten: Today is September 21st !  
_

_My Birthday ! _Of course _John wouldn't forget._ One _of us would've remembered_

Well, with _that_ now cleared up, Kelly didn't take any longer in opening the box. She still didn't tear the paper off, but she did remove it as quickly as she could without abosutlely shredding it.

Succsessfully getting it off, she lifted the lid to find that the box contained-

\- a pair of running shoes, and a trio of cupcakes !

Again, that was curious- who would expect to find any of those on a ship ? But, then again, Infinity was a _enormous_ ship, the largest one in the fleet. It wasn't too much of a stretch to imagine that you could find any of those things in her vast storehouses.

More importantly, these sneakers were _nice_. The shoes were steel colored, with white stripes on their sides, and the UNSC's distinctive Eagle crest on their tops. They were laceless as well, and judging from their length, they were about Kelly's size.

_Running shoes. _Defintely something Kelly could appreciate. Not that the issued gear they already had wasn't great, but-

_What does that matter ? On your birthday, things don't have to be normal. They shouldn't be_

And, cupcakes. Yes, actual cupakes too. There were 3 of them, individually wrapped in transparent paper, which showed off their cobalt colored frosting. On top of each one, was a combination of letters and numbers: B2.

_Blue Two. _Her, in other words.

" You're a sap, John ", Kelly shook her head, but she was smiling now. She felt good inside.

_I love you too. And that makes me one as well._

It wasn't that rare for anyone on Blue Team to experince moments like this. Moments when they seemed like ordinary soldiers who came from somewhere, and had somewhere to go back to. Nobody on Blue could remember her past life, and these " ordinary " things still seemed somewhat foriegn to them, even now.

But, it wasn't so bad to have them anyway. They were learning more and more of that these days.

Rank and file soldiers and marines would've been tickled pink to know that Spartans could be so sentimental. Or, rather, the Generation II Spartans; the IVs were commonplace to them by now. But, what IIs were left were still larger than life legends that everybody looked at with awe, amazement, and even borderline fear.

Well, there was a lot they didn't know. Which was allright, because_ John_ knew.

And he'd made sure Kelly knew he'd remembered. Because he was Blue One, and he knew her.

Especially things that mattered.


End file.
